World Eaters Praetor / Centurion Conversion

For my growing World Eaters detachment, it is clear that I need Praetor or Centurion to make the force a little bit more rounded by opening up the force organisation chart for third edition. This conversion is what I came up with. 

The body is from the newer range of Khorne Berzerkers, but carefully chosen so that there are zero symbols of Khorne or Chaos anywhere on the miniature. It certainly communicates the character that I am aiming for here. The mace (power maul, or potentially a paragon weapon for a praetor) comes from the Age of Sigmar and is from the Storm Cast range itself. Specifically, a Stormcast Eternal Reclusian two handed mace. The tricky bit here is the right shoulder which needs significantly shaved down in order to fit a shoulder pad over it. The other arm lacks a shoulder altogether and I had to substitute a regular power armour arm to fill in the gap to the elbow. The shoulders here are one from the Berzerkers range (left shoulder pad) which features on the World Eaters symbol, and one from the chaos terminators range (right shoulder pad) which is a blank for me to apply a transfer later on. 

For the head, I have a commander's helm from the Mark II range of the Saturnine boxed set. The base is rounded off with some off cast bits from the old scenery range which I've sawed down to fit on a regular 32mm base. The backpack is an old fashion chaos space marines backpack which is a nod to the forge worlds associated with the traitors - i.e., Anvilus.  

Skyhunter

A bit of a hobby day today, and first off the table is a skyhunter. 

This particular chap is going to be an Emperor's Children squad sergeant. The build was very simple overall - and remarkably this is also the first sky hunter that I've assembled. I've put the multi melta in place for the weapon as I wanted a squad that could ride up and try to pop tanks up close and personal. In third edition, this is more challenging, but I still like the concept of doing this (that, and the low AP from second edition for plasma cannons has long gone now sadly). The left arm for the sergeant is from the new Warhammer 40k Emperor's Children range and features a jagged power sword which looks suitably vicious. The head meanwhile is from the older chaos space marine range. Overall, the vibe I'm going for is one of pre-fall Emperor's Children who might just be toying with some of the lighter range of excess that the legion would later be known for. Obviously the base needs work yet, and painting is yet to come, but I think the dynamic and the features are communicating the right ideas here for me. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Iron Hands Legion Rules

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5 stars. The Iron Hands return to third edition as strong as ever. 

Background.

As always with a new edition, the first legion that I always focus on are the Iron Hands. The simple reason is that this is the legion that I benchmark all others against. And more than this, they are one of the toughest legions out there in the previous editions, able to weather onslaughts of firepower thanks to their special rules. 

Armoury. 

The third edition contains some old staples, and some new entries. 

Armatus Necrotechnika returns with the ability to self-repair Iron Hands vehicles at 5+, but can also gobble up the remains of any casualties to boost this. Very handy, if a bit grim. 

Artificer Power Axe is an interesting one representing Medusan technology. Shred and Breaching are a good bonus for this weapon.

Graviton Pistols are nice and affordable upgrade for command and champion characters to have. 

The Iron Clad adds an extra dreadnought who becomes a champion sub type if you fill a Prime Slot of a command role. This is nice as it thematically represents those Iron Hands who just wanted to keep on fighting. 

Tactica. 

The Iron Hands keep the -1 to wound of incoming firepower from previous editions via The Gorgon's Scales. This is, of course, their core strength and why facing off against them is so difficult in the early turns at range.

Gambit.  
Double the normal bonus for the focus roll from Outside Support thanks to Legion of One - the Iron Hands became very self-sufficient after Isstvan. Meanwhile, their opponents can only gain +2 as the maximum from Outside support. 

Additional Detachments. 
The Spearhead Phalanx is an excellent auxiliary option bringing in three slots (albeit that the heavy transport has to be a land raider or spartan - no problem with that - in addition to the tanks and terminators). 
The Medusan Vanguard meanwhile is an apex detachment that brings terminators, a dreadnought, and more at the price of the command slot here being a Praevian. No problem at all with that and very fluffy.

Advanced Reaction. 
Spite of the Gorgon allows you to fire back at full BS at a unit charging them. The cost is Overload (1) and no reactive volley. This is very reasonable, but obviously the overload is an issue. 

Overall then, an excellent and solid suite of rules that encourages shooting and survival of the incoming shots. The gambit is reasonable without being outstanding, and the armoury is sound as well. A worthy benchmark for other legions to be measured against indeed.